Charles Sackville 1643-1706

Charles SACKVILLE, 6th Earl of Dorset 1643-1706

One of the bookplates of Charles Sackville (British Museum, Franks Collection *30)

Biographical Note

Son of Richard Sackville, 5th Earl of Dorset, from whom he inherited the title and family estates in 1677. MP for East Grinstead 1661-75, when he entered the House of Lords as Earl of Middlesex. Noted as a rake and a hedonist in the 1660s, he developed a wide literary circle, writing verse himself; he was a friend or patron of Matthew Prior and Sir George Etherege. He was appointed Lord Chamberlain in 1689 and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1699.

Books

Sackville used engraved armorial bookplates made ca.1700, Franks 25914-5/*30-31. The extent and disposition of his library is not known.

Sources

• Gambier Howe, E. R. J. Franks bequest: catalogue of British and American book plates bequeathed to the ... British Museum. London, 1903.
• Lee, B. N. British bookplates: a pictorial history. Newton Abbot, 1979 , 28.
• Love, Harold. "Sackville, Charles, sixth earl of Dorset and first earl of Middlesex (1643–1706), poet and politician." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.